Belfast-born actor J.J. Murphy died Aug. 8, just four days into filming his scenes for HBO’s fantasy epic “Game of Thrones.”

The actor, who was 86 years old, had been cast to play the eldest member of the Night’s Watch, Ser Denys Mallister.

Murphy was one of the new additions to the ensemble cast of the sprawling hit series adapted from George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice” novels, which will return for its fifth season next year; show runners and executive producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff will not be recasting the role.

“He was a lovely man, and the best Denys Mallister we could have hoped for. And now his watch is ended,” Weiss and Benioff said in a joint statement.

The veteran performer, who also had a role in the upcoming “Dracula Untold” alongside another “Game of Thrones” alum, actor Charles Dance, reportedly died at his Belfast home last Friday, prompting tributes from the TV, film and theater worlds.

Though Murphy was best-known in the U.S. for his role in the film version of Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes,” the wealth of his experience was on the stage. He worked for many years at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast alongside internationally recognized peers Liam Neeson and Ciaran Hinds.

His role in the big-budget “Dracula” film, due for release in October, wasn’t his first encounter with Bram Stoker’s creation. He played Van Helsing in a 1980 production of “The Death of Dracula” at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.

Click through the gallery of images above for a look back at the fourth season of “Game of Thrones.”